Customers of Microsoft's leading enterprise resource planning app will soon be able to better address their energy use and reduce their carbon footprints.

Customers of Microsoft Dynamics AX--the company's enterprise resource planning application--will soon be able to better address their energy use and reduce their carbon footprints, thanks to the Environmental Sustainability Dashboard.

Currently in the works, the dashboard will enable businesses -- large and small -- to gather and analyze energy consumption patterns and in turn use the data to implement environmentally sustainable policies and track green results. Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions monitoring will apply to a range of business processes, including accounts payable, inventory management, and expense management. According to Microsoft, the dashboard components are Microsoft SharePoint Web parts that can be propagated in Microsoft Dynamics AX Role Centers and on any Enterprise Portal site.